Monthly Archives: June 2014

Richard Beddie Claims CrossFit Trainers are the Reason For Female Urinary Incontinence

June 30, 2014 by Russell Berger

CEO of Exercise New Zealand and Board Member of REPs New Zealand Richard Beddie appears to have lied to the press about CrossFit having killed people, and then lied about having told that lie. Rather than responding to these allegations, Beddie has refused to answer questions over the phone, ignored the emailed questions he requested we send instead, and his organizations have essentially gone silent on the issue. But not silent enough. Speaking on behalf of the Exercise Association of […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Beddie, Exercise NZ, Fitness NZ, New Zealand, REPs, Richard Beddie, Trainers, Urinary Incontinence

The NSCA’s William Kraemer vs. CrossFit Part Four

June 28, 2014 by Russ Greene

If you haven’t already seen Parts One, Two, and Three of the Kraemer vs. CrossFit series, you should check them out now. CrossFit First Described by William Kraemer? Finally, William Kraemer, the Editor-In-Chief of Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, claims he first described CrossFit’s methodology in 1987: “The training methodology advocated by these programs is not new, as resistance exercise performed at higher intensities with very short rest periods was first described by Kraemer et al., and circuit weight training […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: ACSM, American College of Sports Medicine, CrossFit, National Strength and Conditioning Association, NSCA, William Kraemer

The NSCA’s William Kraemer vs. CrossFit Part Three

June 27, 2014 by Russ Greene

In Part One of the Kraemer vs. CrossFit series, I introduced William Kraemer’s studies on CrossFit. Kraemer took a group of people with no experience in CrossFit and had them do modified “Linda” as fast as possible, at heavy loads, and without coaching. Their squat form improved throughout the workout, yet Kraemer’s opinion of CrossFit did not change, as I covered in Part Two. Here is Part Three: Universal Load Prescription: Something CrossFit Doesn’t Do In Kraemer’s next study, Effects of High Intensity […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: ACSM, American College of Sports Medicine, CrossFit, National Strength and Conditioning Association, NSCA, William Kraemer

The NSCA’s William Kraemer vs. CrossFit Part Two

June 26, 2014 by Russ Greene

In Part One of this series I began my review of William Kraemer’s studies. As I covered then, Kraemer is the corresponding author for 4 studies on CrossFit published in 2013 and 2014 in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. While Kraemer’s studies don’t contain fraudulent injury data, they reach some illogical conclusions and make false claims about CrossFit’s methods. Here they are: Effects of fatigue from resistance training on barbell back squat biomechanics The effects of high intensity short rest resistance […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: ACSM, American College of Sports Medicine, CrossFit, National Strength and Conditioning Association, NSCA, William Kraemer

The NSCA’s William Kraemer vs. CrossFit Part One

June 25, 2014 by Russ Greene

Kraemer and CrossFit: the History William Kraemer is a former member of the ACSM’s Board of Trustees, and current Editor-in-Chief of the NSCA’s Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. The history between Kraemer and CrossFit starts at the very beginning of CrossFit.com. The original CrossFit Journal Article “Foundations” cites his research on the neuroendocrine response: “Current research, much of it done by Dr. William Kraemer, Penn State University, has shown which exercise protocols maximize neuroendocrine responses … Heavy load weight training, short […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: ACSM, American College of Sports Medicine, CrossFit, National Strength and Conditioning Association, NSCA, William Kraemer

Has Exercise NZ’s CEO Richard Beddie Been Caught in Another Lie?

June 24, 2014 by Russell Berger

In a recent post on this blog, we questioned a statement made by CEO of Exercise New Zealand Richard Beddie. Beddie told reporters that CrossFit was responsible for “…6 deaths…”, which is completely false. After we questioned this claim, the editors immediately posted a retraction, but refused to look into Beddie’s statement further. Our article had some interesting results. First, the Facebook page for the Exercise Association of New Zealand received nearly twenty 1-star reviews from those outraged about Beddie’s remarks. […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Exercise NZ, Fitness NZ, New Zealand, REPs, Richard Beddie, Trainers

The NSCA to CrossFit- Why Should We Know if What We Publish is True?

June 21, 2014 by Russell Berger

The NSCA has filed a response to CrossFit’s lawsuit against them. The NSCA denies or avoids taking a position on nearly all of the allegations included in CrossFit’s complaints. Some of these points are worth noting: First, the NSCA denies CrossFit’s allegation that the two companies are competitors in the fitness industry (item 2). This seems odd, considering the NSCA admits that a large portion of their revenue comes from certifications and renewals. When two companies generate the majority of their revenue by offering different products […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: ACSM, CrossFit, JSCR, Lawsuit, Mike Smith, NSCA, Ohio State, OSU, Steven Devor, William Kraemer

CEO of Exercise New Zealand Richard Beddie- “CrossFit caused 6 deaths”

June 18, 2014 by Russell Berger

Stuff.com.nz writer Rebecca Stevenson recently published this article, which contained a pretty interesting quote from the CEO of the Exercise Association of New Zealand (ExercizeNZ) Richard Beddie. “CrossFit has resulted in six deaths overseas and rendered an Australian man paraplegic …” Nothing about this statement is true, so we contacted the publication. Glen Scanlon, News Editor at Stuff.co.nz, responded quickly and said he would “check back with the author and source quoted in the story.” The story was edited a few days […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Exercise NZ, Fitness NZ, New Zealand, REPs, Richard Beddie, Trainers

Vote on DC “Fitness Tax” Extended One Week

June 17, 2014 by Russell Berger

The D.C. city council will vote on Chairman Phil Mendelson’s 2015 budge proposal on Tuesday, June 24. Under Chairman Mendelson’s proposal, D.C. gyms will start paying a 5.75% sales tax, while city employees will receive raises. It has long been a practice of politicians to try to influence behavior by manipulating the tax code. When politicians decide that a behavior, such as smoking or consuming sugary drinks is “unfavorable,” they tax it more. In an interview with Chairman Mendelson, I asked him if he […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Chairman Mendelson, CrossFit, Fitness, Fitness tax, Sales tax, Taxes, Washington DC, Yoga

Response Letter From Dr. Brian Giordano

June 12, 2014 by Russell Berger

After reading a copy of the study titled “Injury Rate and Patterns Among CrossFit Athletes,” I wrote this post, which included a copy of a letter to the authors. A week later, Dr. Brian Giordano sent his response: In our recent paper titled, “Injury Rate and Patterns Among Crossfit Athletes,” the use of the term “injury rate” was questioned. Specifically, the reader queried whether our use of the term “injury rate” referred to incidence or prevalence. We appreciate the reader’s […]

Categories: Uncategorized

Chairman Phil Mendelson Wants to Tax Fitness in D.C.

June 11, 2014 by Russ Greene

Nobody likes to pay new taxes. Sure, some argue that taxes can be good: they get people to cut down on socially unacceptable activities: cigarette-smoking, junk food consumption, successful businessmen’s economic activity, etc. But the D.C. City Council is targeting a sector unaccustomed to such attention: fitness. Under Chairman Phil Mendelson’s (D) budget proposal, D.C. gyms will start paying the 5.75% sales tax on January 1, 2015. Mendelson argues that the money taken from taxing gyms and other businesses will allow D.C. to lower the income tax for low and […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Chairman Mendelson, CrossFit, DC, Fitness, Fitness tax, Sales tax, Taxes, Washington DC, Yoga

“Injury Rate and Patterns Among CrossFit Athletes,” Dr. Brian Giordano

June 7, 2014 by Russell Berger

Anther survey-based study of CrossFit has surfaced on the internet, this time in the Open Access Journal for Orthopedic Sports Medicine. The study, titled Injury Rate and Patterns Among CrossFit Athletes, reports a near 20% injury rate among CrossFit participants, but then compares this to the “incidence rate” of injury in running, cited to be between 19.4% to 79.3%. This obviously puts CrossFit on the lower end of the calculated range. But there is a problem with this study. What the authors […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: CrossFit, CrossFit Study, injury, Injury Rate, interview, Peer review, prevalence, Rochester, science, survey

CrossFit Inc. is Suing the National Strength and Conditioning Association

June 3, 2014 by Russell Berger

CrossFit Inc. is suing the National Strength and Conditioning Association for intentionally publishing a fraudulent study about CrossFit. You can read CrossFit’s filing here. CrossFit 614, the affiliate where corresponding author Steven Devor conducted his fraudulent study, already sued Devor and the NSCA. Unfortunately, the NSCA’s corrupted science didn’t just harm CrossFit 614. The NSCA also falsely besmirched the reputation of all CrossFit affiliates, and spread the lie that they are practicing dangerous training. The NSCA could have avoided this. I […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: CrossFit, CrossFit study injury, JSCR, Lawsuit, NCAA, NSCA, OSU, Peerreview, risk, Steven Devor, Strength and conditioning, William Kraemer

DNews Update: Trace Dominguez Defends His Show on Twitter

June 2, 2014 by Russell Berger

After watching this episode of Discovery News that featured CrossFit, we attempted to contact the host (@tracedominguez) on Twitter to try to correct a number of errors and inaccuracies in the show. Trace did not attempt to defend the fraudulent OSU study that he cited, but he did attempt to argue that CrossFit has a high injury rate, and cited this study as evidence. Unfortunately he confused an injury response rate with an “injury rate” and misquoted the study. He also failed to notice the part where the study […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: 1v1, accreditation, accredited, ANSI, BarryPousman, CrossFit, CrossFitL1, CrossFitstudy, debate, Devor, Discovery, Discoverychannel, Discoverynews, Dnews, injury, injuryrate, Junkscience, military, NCCA, NSCA, OhioState, OSU, rhabdo, StevenDevor, tracedominguez, twitter, USArmy

Discovery News on CrossFit – ‘Broscience’

June 1, 2014 by Russell Berger

Yesterday, Discovery News published a review of CrossFit. The host, Trace Dominguez, made many false and misleading claims. What follows is a transcript of the show, with Russ Greene’s notes inserted. —- “How do you know someone does CrossFit? Because they’ll tell you. But is it worth all the love? Science says it’s not even close. Hey fitness fanatics, Trace here for DNews. CrossFit is a growing trend because enthusiasts say it makes them look hot. 60% of CrossFitters are women and […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: 1v1, accreditation, accredited, ANSI, BarryPousman, CrossFit, CrossFitL1, CrossFitstudy, debate, Devor, Discovery, Discoverychannel, Discoverynews, Dnews, falseclaims, injury, injuryrate, Junkscience, military, NCCA, NSCA, OhioState, OSU, rebuttal, review, rhabdo, StevenDevor, tracedominguez, transcript, twitter, USArmy

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Defending the brand from junk science, yellow journalism, and invincible ignorance

Monthly Archives: June 2014

Richard Beddie Claims CrossFit Trainers are the Reason For Female Urinary Incontinence

The NSCA’s William Kraemer vs. CrossFit Part Four

The NSCA’s William Kraemer vs. CrossFit Part Three

The NSCA’s William Kraemer vs. CrossFit Part Two

The NSCA’s William Kraemer vs. CrossFit Part One

Has Exercise NZ’s CEO Richard Beddie Been Caught in Another Lie?

The NSCA to CrossFit- Why Should We Know if What We Publish is True?

CEO of Exercise New Zealand Richard Beddie- “CrossFit caused 6 deaths”

Vote on DC “Fitness Tax” Extended One Week

Response Letter From Dr. Brian Giordano

Chairman Phil Mendelson Wants to Tax Fitness in D.C.

“Injury Rate and Patterns Among CrossFit Athletes,” Dr. Brian Giordano

CrossFit Inc. is Suing the National Strength and Conditioning Association

DNews Update: Trace Dominguez Defends His Show on Twitter

Discovery News on CrossFit – ‘Broscience’